Big Nemo
by Amymimi
Summary: It's been 8 years since Nemo visited Slumberland, and now he's returning. Everything's changed, however. NEWLY UPDATED JAN 2005! PLEASE R&R!
1. The Return

Big Nemo

Disclaimer: I do not own Slumberland, Nemo, Camille, Bon-Bon, Professor Genius, King Morpheus, or Flip. However, Professor Cloud and the helicopter are my inventions.  
Storyline: This is actually an old story that I always wanted to continue. If you think it's stupid or you hate it, please don't tell me so. I'm already paranoid about it.

It had been 8 years since Nemo had visited Slumberland. Princess Camille was now a mature, beautiful young woman, King Morpheus had left the crown to his daughter and was now only a shadow of the man he used to represent, and Professor Genius was retired and living in the outskirts of Slumberland. One of the only people in Slumberland keeping up the same acts as when Nemo was around was Flip. Just after Nemo left, Flip was back to his crow-riding, people-terrorizing, mischief-making ways. One would think that after 8 years the man would slow down, but Flip was still up at his more youthful standards. Even the police officers that used to chase him had long since retired and made way for new young ones to catch up to the constant bother to the town.

Nemo was now a 16-year-old scholar and athlete in high school. He had become a very handsome young man with wavy brown hair and deep-set brown eyes that most girls in the high school desired. He was a starting varsity football player at his high school and was adored by everyone around him. He realized that he could have had any girl at school he wanted at any point in time, but he continually thought about a girl with blue eyes and auburn hair that he kissed on a dirigible. Who was that girl?

One night, before Nemo went to sleep, he decided to clean under his bed. As he pulled boxes of football trophies and plaques out from under his bed, he spotted a strange box with an air of royalty to it. A strange white box with little floral designs on it. Wow. Maybe this'll be worth something, he thought. Nemo then decided to open it to see if any inscriptions of where it came from were carved inside. Instead, he found a note. It told about cookies made at the royal bakery, courtesy of Princess Camille. Princess Camille? The name sounded vaguely familiar. After a few minutes of intense thinking, he decided to sleep on it and maybe it would pop in his head in the morning. He also had heard that dreams could tell people answers that may have not been answerable in the conscious world.

As soon as Nemo was asleep, he began to dream. He began to dream of the royal-looking cookie box and what royal bakery it could've came from. Soon a white light had filled his room and the sound of helicopter blades thundered in the air outside of his bedroom window. Thinking that he had finally gone insane, Nemo stumbled on over to the window and shut the blinds. He saw a strange hovering flying contraption, definitely a different sight from the propeller-driven airplanes and trains used for transportation in these times! The loud helicopter sound pierced his ears. Looking between the blinds, he saw that the contraption was close enough to touch from his window! Immediately he slipped some pants over his long underwear pants, his usual nighttime attire, and put on a shirt just in case the people on the helicopter could see him. He wanted to look more closely at the helicopter but the sound of it was deafening. He turned around, put in earplugs that were lying on his desk, pulled his blinds up a bit, and then opened his window a slight amount to look at the helicopter and what it was doing at his house. Once the window was a crack open, he could barely hear the talking of people aboard the helicopter, but knew that there must be a good-sized bunch. Also, he saw that the helicopter was a helicopter for celebrities and royalty! Hanging out of the open helicopter door about three feet from his window, the people on the helicopter motioned for him to get in, but Nemo was dumbstruck for a moment. A few seconds later he got an incredible déjà vu, and thinking about that, he immediately jumped into the helicopter.  
Once aboard, a tall, wire-thin man with curly black hair and thick glasses by the name of Professor Cloud welcomed Nemo, gave him a tour of the helicopter, and introduced him to the passengers. Nemo thought Professor Cloud was a very corny man, but suspected that he must be some college scout testing him out.

Nemo was flattered with the immense attention, but wondered why it was he that was on this great helicopter. After he had been introduced to more than twenty people, the college scout idea floated out of his mind.

"Uh, this is great and all, Sir, but why am I here?"

"You are here, my boy, because Slumberland misses you more than you'll ever know. The Queen misses you the most, though…."

"What Queen? I kept seeing these things about a Princess lately. Any relation between the two?"

The Professor began to laugh heartily. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Nemo…. You knew the Princess eight years ago. Forgive me, I was not there; Professor Genius was your guide. Her father, the former King Morpheus of Slumberland, is now too old to carry the throne and scepter and has passed it on to his daughter, the Princess, who is now the Queen of Slumberland."

"Do you have a photo of her that I may be able to recognize her?"

"Hmmm…." The Professor looked around his wallet, then the chopper, asking an occasional passenger, but no pictures of the Queen were to be found. "I'm sorry, Nemo, but there aren't any pictures of her aboard the helicopter."

"How did you know my name right when I got on this thing? I never told you it."

"You'll see…."

As the helicopter flew towards Slumberland, Nemo sputtered out questions about the helicopter, Slumberland, and the queen lady.

"What's she look like?"

"Well, she has blue eyes, and auburn hair--"

"Huh?" Nemo felt a spark of recognition. Unfortunately, it left him as fast as it had came. He hadn't remembered what he had said the day before.

Finally the helicopter arrived in Slumberland. Nemo just couldn't get any recognition out of the balloons everywhere, the smiling and waving people, and the tall castle steeples reaching up to the clear blue sky. Everything was quite beautiful and perfect, and the crystalline clouds surrounding the small kingdom were definitely not storm clouds. Lush foliage dotted the grounds about the white castle in the center of the kingdom. As soon as the helicopter started to try to sink down to land, a gigantic black crow flew right underneath the aircraft, causing temporary turbulence. Nemo spoke up after regaining his lost balance. "What was that?"

The pilot of the helicopter answered. "That is the town's mischief maker. Slumberland would never have to have any police if he wasn't here."

"That crow?"

"No, there's a man riding the crow. Look out your window. You'll see him. He's a plump fellow."

"Yeah, I see him."

Nemo sensed he had seen the man before, a chubby humorous-looking fellow, but he could not recall what part the man had played in his existence, and could not recall his name.

The helicopter landed safely and Nemo was escorted out. Hundreds of people waved at him and shouted his name happily. Nemo, beginning to catch on to the popularity thing, waved and smiled back. He, Professor Cloud, and a painted-up teenage girl named Bon-Bon walked up a flight of steps leading into a part of the castle. There, he was brought before a throne with its back turned. Professor Cloud stood proudly next to Nemo and signaled to the guards nearby to turn the throne around. A button on the wall was pressed, and the throne began to turn. Nemo's eyes grew wide, hoping that this Queen was recognizable. However, when it was turned around to show him Her Majesty Queen Camille, the throne was empty. Suddenly, Nemo became very dizzy and almost fell over. He had had a déjà vu about this scene. He remembered the throne being empty another time after the guards had tapped the ground with their poles to turn the throne around. So, he had been here before! He remembered a bit more. Once the guards and the tall man he was with had realized the person in the throne was missing, they ran off and left him all alone. Somehow, he ended up in an upside-down room….  
The guards and the Professor ran off to look for the Queen and Nemo was left again to fend for himself. He just stood there, wondering if the Queen had a train set that ordinary humans could ride on…. He immediately felt like a madman and shook his head at his stupid thoughts.

Soon Nemo was approached by a short, chubby guy with a long maroon jacket and a top hat. The man had clown makeup on and seemed like a fun-loving guy. He walked right up to Nemo and took off his hat, revealing a bald head with tufts of black hair around his ears. "Hey, Nemo, do ya remember me?" he asked cordially.

"Hmmm…. I heard that you and your bird almost wrecked the chopper."

"Ehhh… I wasn't gonna wreck it, I've just never flown ol' Flap underneath a chopper before, wanted to try it."

"I see…."

"So you don't remember me, eh?"

"I've seen your face before, I just don't recall your name."

"Do you remember any of the fun stuff we did, kid?"

Nemo thought deeply for a while. Within a minute or two he got flashbacks. "Let's see…. I do remember you having to carry a ton of luggage through some swampy area. I also remember you falling out of a cannon…. Oh, yeah, and I think I recall correctly when I say that I think I rode your crow once… right into fireworks…. Am I wrong?"

Flip pushed out a nervous laugh. "Uh, no, kid, you're right, but, uh, do you remember any of the positive things about me?"

"Well…." Nemo stuttered as he thought.

"You're tellin' me that you don't remember making the dinosaur sneeze all over the bandstand? Or the fun rides on my crow?"

"No, I don't think I remember that…."

"Uh, do you know my name?"

A blank look from Nemo signaled for a change of subject. Flip was somewhat disappointed but was sure he could help Nemo remember who he was. Cheering up, he strove to make plans for the day.

"Nevermind that, kid, whaddya wanna do first in this wonderful land?" He pulled a long brown cigar out of his coat pocket and placed it in the corner of his mouth. Nemo's eyes lit up, remembering the man as the only person he had ever seen smoke a cigar, and his brain registered the name. "You're Flip, right?"

Flip gave Nemo a big buddy hug. "Yay, kid! Good job! So, what are your plans? Wanna fly on my crow?"

Nemo felt bad but had to tell Flip what he was really here for. "I'm here to see the Queen; do you know where she is?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, kid…. Oh, by the way, what happened to that little squirrel you used to have? That Icarus furball?"

Nemo answered more quickly than expected. "He died about six years ago. He was a good squirrel."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," Flip stammered. To imagine that cute fuzzy animal not around anymore…. Flip almost came to the point of tears. In this happy world of Slumberland sadness and death were not well known. In a few seconds, however, he was back to the happy-go-lucky Flip he always had been.

Flip lead the way to where he thought the Queen was. Nemo began to follow, but decided to go the other direction after thinking about where her chambers were. Straightening his clothes, Nemo walked toward the part of the castle that her room was in as Flip was just realizing that Nemo wasn't behind him. Sighing sadly, Flip disappeared back into the sky on his crow. "Man, that kid sure has changed…."

Queen Camille sat inside her chambers, brushing through her long shiny auburn hair. _Oh, how I have missed him! I hope he knows who I am…. I just couldn't bear to see him for the first time in eight years in front of everybody_, she thought.

She wondered what Nemo looked like now. "Oh, he's probably so handsome," she said to herself.

Just then there was a knock at her chamber doors. Swallowing hard, she straightened her red satin dress out and opened the doors a crack. Standing before her, with wavy brown hair and deep-set brown eyes, was Nemo. Immediately she swung open the doors and greeted Nemo with a warm hug. Nemo looked at the girl hugging him at this moment. He then knew that this was the One he was thinking about but couldn't put his finger on who it was! Just then he knew everything at once. And, knowing what girls wanted to hear, he began to stammer. "Camille, I've really missed you. I've been thinking about you a lot."

"Oh, Nemo. It's been terribly lonely without you. You're all I can think and dream about."

Nemo decided that he was going to give his second kiss to Camille too. He had saved it for her. And so he kissed her. And Camille gave her second kiss to Nemo.

As the pair was kissing, a good long lip-lock, Professor Cloud walked in. Uncomfortably, he fixed his collar as Nemo and the Queen realized they were being watched and stopped the kiss. They stood side by side as Cloud came over to Nemo's side. "I see you've met Queen Camille," he said.

"Uh, yeah," Nemo muttered, embarrassed.

Professor Cloud talked to Nemo a bit about the changes in Slumberland since he had last came.

"Slumberland hasn't had Nightmare since you destroyed it! Also, the technology has really grown. As you can probably tell, the dirigibles that used to be our prime source of transportation have evolved into helicopters! We now use telephones, of course, helicopters, and all sorts of wonderful new things."

"Well, that's good," Nemo replied half-heartedly. At the moment, he only wanted to spend more time with Camille. She was without a doubt the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and to think that she wanted to be near him too…

"Also, Nemo, the guide who escorted you around Slumberland eight years ago, Professor Genius, is now retired and living near the boundaries of Slumberland. He is a tired old soul now, but he is currently flying to this location in a helicopter just to see you again!"

"Are you of any relation to the Professor?"

"Uh, as a matter of fact, I am. I am his nephew. He is the youngest brother in his family, and I am only ten years his junior, the son of his eldest brother."

"I see…." Nemo was obviously not interested. Being a high school age, Nemo's interests lay elsewhere. The Professor sensed this and left hastily after explaining a few more brief facts. "Now don't you two do anything I wouldn't do!" he shouted as he departed.

Once he left, Nemo and Camille talked the rest of the day about each other's lives, comparing and contrasting the times. Nemo talked about his high school and his sports and the Queen talked about how boring it was in Slumberland anymore. "Nothing is happening here. No Nightmare. No big problems to figure out. There's nothing for a queen to do here."

"But isn't Flip--"

"Yes, he's rather annoying and pesky. If it weren't for him I'd probably die of boredom. He's the only project this town has. Once he's incarcerated, that's it for any excitement around here."

Meanwhile, Flip grumbled around town, thinking of how much his little buddy Nemo had changed. He pondered what it would take to get the kid back on his side. It was apparent that Nemo didn't care about anything but girls now. Oh, to have Nemo as an ally. The cops had been after him more lately, and he had had a few close calls. Once Nemo was on his side, he could persuade the Queen of Slumberland to oblige, and he would not be in any more trouble.

Flip then suddenly popped an idea into his head. He could impress the kid, or at least make him smile, with a spectacular stunt. He had heard that a blimp celebrating Nemo's arrival was heading across town in a few minutes. Thinking of how amazing it would be to see a blimp pop and to have Nemo see it, Flip decided to light his cigar, ride Flap up to the blimp, and pop the blimp with the lit butt of his cigar. It would be the perfect troublesome thing to do. Besides, he was sure that Nemo, at this day and age, would not be impressed with a dumb boring blimp floating peacefully across the sky. Teenage boys loved wreaking havoc. He knew that he himself always did. Just as he had planned it all out, the blimp started across town, a huge white blimp with the bold happy lettering "Welcome Nemo" across it. Once the cigar was lit and ready, he began to start up into the sky underneath the blimp.

Nemo and Camille were notified of the blimp's crossing and looked out of the third-story window of the castle for the blimp. Dozens of floats and balloons filled the air as every citizen waved at Nemo in the window. The blimp was a bit higher, with an odd black shadow underneath it steadily increasing velocity, heading for the blimp. "Hey, Camille, is that Flip's crow flying up underneath the blimp?"

"Yes, Nemo, that does look like his crow. That must mean my police force is not doing its job." She spotted Flip on the crow. "Yep, Flip's sitting on it. What is he going to do?"

"I'm actually quite afraid of what he's capable of. A year or so after you were gone, he almost killed a whole crowd of people. He made a helicopter wreck into a school building. Sometimes I really wish that the police would just catch him. I'd be bored, but now that you're here, that'll be taken care of." She smiled warmly as Nemo leaned towards her to steal another kiss. He was definitely a Casanova, for never actually kissing another girl other than her. He seemed to be born with the Touch.

Nemo and Camille watched Flip fly up underneath the blimp and take his cigar out of his mouth. As the blimp flew softly across the sky, Flap flew alongside it with Flip holding his cigar near the canvas of the blimp. Both Nemo and Camille realized what he was trying to do. Both exclaimed at once, "He's going to pop the blimp!"

Within a few seconds the blimp caught fire. As Flip flew quickly away from the blimp, the fire ate a hole in the broad side of the blimp and loudly popped the blimp. In a matter of moments the blimp quickly deflated and the canvas of the blimp flew wildly all over the air. The huge mass of canvas slammed many people off their floats and knocked them to the ground below. The popping of the blimp injured many people and put many in critical condition. Flip was flying away too fast to turn around, but knew that no matter what had happened, the police were after him. "Hehe, they'll never catch me!" he exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Nemo and Camille had just witnessed the whole horrible act and were gaping with mouths wide open. "Oh my-what just happened?" the Queen asked, hoping she was just having a Nightmare. Nemo could only stare blankly.

Immediately the Queen jumped up, startling Nemo out of his wits. "Ohhhhh, he's in for it now!" she fumed. Stomping around angrily, she threw open the window. Scanning the scattering crowd of citizens below, she spotted some of her guards and police. "GET FLIP! HE'S THE CULPRIT! ARREST HIM NOW!"

The guards looked up at her vantage point high above the ground. The head guard yelled up as respectfully as he could. "Did you see which way he went, Your Majesty?"

"YES I DID," she yelled back. "HE FLEW TOWARDS THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE KINGDOM."

A quick nod from the head guard, and the police force was off to apprehend Flip. An EMS squad attended to the injured, and the whole kingdom was in an uproar against the enemy.


	2. Trouble For Flip

Flip raced away on his crow with the cops trailing behind. "Heh, they'll never catch me!" he scoffed indignantly. "I'm the one and only unstoppable, unchangeable, irreplaceable, unbeatable Flip! Ha ha!" The green clown sneered down scornfully at the police force hot on his tail. As he laughed, Flap squawked along. She looked back to see where the police actually were....

Flap and her cargo flew headfirst into a steeple and lost velocity quickly as she fell out of the sky. Flip clung onto his crow for dear life, for they were falling from a very high altitude. Of course, he couldn't hang on for long, and separated from his crow. The cops could see them falling and made a large circle around where they assumed Flip would fall. Townsfolk gathered around, gaping at the falling mass of mischief.

Nemo could see that Camille was pissed about all this, but he didn't know how to help her. The enraged Queen began to pace angrily back and forth across the oak-paneled floor, hissing about Flip and what trouble he was in for. "Ohhhh, I hate that man," she grumbled. "Nemo...." She looked over at the handsome boy watching her every move. "What shall I do?" she placed a fist on one hip and her other hand under her chin, tapping it thoughtfully with her finger. "Shall I throw him in jail until the end of time? Shall I execute him? Shall I fine him? Shall I make him do community service? Shall I publicly humiliate him? Or shall I banish him?"

She swirled her dress lavishly towards him as she inquired in him. Nemo was awestruck by her tremendous beauty and just stood, mouth open in wonder, running his eyes over each curve, each line of her body.

"Nemo!" Camille was no moron; she could see Nemo eyeing her up and down, every which way.

He glanced up quickly, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment, as he questioned her call with his eyes.

"Nemo, what should I do with Flip once the police catch him? Have you even heard a word that I have said these past few minutes?"

Nemo's face turned red with shame as he stuttered. "Uh, yeah, I, uh, think you should...."  
He paused for a minute or so, trying to remember the options he so barely heard.

The Queen grew impatient with each breath and demanded the answer. "I should WHAT?"

"Uh, hehe, you should publicly humiliate him...." Nemo's nervousness was apparent as he finally remembered one punishment that she had said that could work. He had only heard the last two, but he knew that banishing wouldn't work.... Flip had already been "banished" once and Nemo had saved him from it. He knew that he would feel bad if Flip had to be banished "again" when he was around.

"What kind of public humiliation?" Camille wandered over to him, her expression growing softer. She came closer and closer to him until she was only a few inches away, her mouth almost touching his.

Nemo began to stutter again. "Uh...." Camille could see that she was probably the source of his nervousness and backed off a bit. Nemo then became frightened by her backing away from him but didn't let his fear show. "Hey, Camille, I didn't stutter to make you back up," he said coolly to her. "I'm just trying to think of something."

Camille now felt bad. She strolled back on over to him and pressed up against his chest with her body as he stared into his eyes. "I'm sorry, Nemo. I didn't mean anything by it." She put her arms around his waist. A romantic look came to her eyes. "Now, what kind of public humiliation should we use for Flip?" She smiled up at him as he laughed.

"Camille, the police haven't even caught him yet! You can't count your chickens before they hatch!"

The Queen laughed along with him. "I suppose you're right. But to get ahead, let's formulate a list of different punishments having to do with public humiliation."

In a few minutes, Camille and Nemo were seated on the bed with a notepad and pencil. They began to list. The stocks, the pillory, or a whipping, and then afterwards some jail time. It seemed like a good punishment. Jail alone wouldn't give the full effect. Banishing.... Well, he'd be dead, run out of oxygen, before he'd learn his lesson. Execution was just too cruel for his crimes. "You know, Nemo, if someone dies because of this incident, Flip may have to face his fate." An execution was possible if someone was killed.

While the Queen was pacing, Flip landed in a fountain a few hundred yards away from Slumberland's boundary. His crow landed about 30 feet away from him, on the concrete. Sopping wet and heavy from the water that covered him, Flip began to bring himself into a kneeling position, since standing was very difficult to do at the moment. As he dumped the water out of his slumped-over top hat setting crooked on his head, he got a few of his surroundings. He gazed up in sheer terror as he saw the circle of armed policemen surrounding him. His eyes grew wide and pupils small as he scanned the huge, angry crowd all around him. The police chief assumed what the Queen wanted to do and prepared his police force to do the impulsive thing - shoot him. He watched as his buddy Flap was dragged away in chains, heading for placement down in the deep basement underneath the castle where the Nightmare was formerly kept behind locked doors.

Flip was frozen in fear. He could only kneel on all fours chuckling nervously as the police chief made the most frightful movement he had seen yet. The chief stepped inward towards the center of the circle, allowing all the other members of the force to hear his commands and see his bayonet move to the commands. He thrust his bayonet into the air expertly. "OFFICERS," he barked. "READY WEAPONS."

All thirty officers did as commanded and loaded their rifles with bullets. Flip gulped and whirled his head around as he witnessed EVERY policeman putting a bullet in his gun.  
"AIM," the man shouted. The policemen all raised their guns and aimed at him as they cocked their weapons. Flip knew that this was serious business and something he might actually not live through. The fear in his paralyzed body rose up quickly into his throat, like thermometer mercury put into scalding water. He became desperate, glancing around speedily for a possible escape route. He could feel his fear surfacing. Within seconds, Flip was begging for mercy. This was the rarest sight in Slumberland, only happening once before, as he was being rolled back into the gigantic cannon while in the cannonball.

"Please, please don't kill me.... I don't wanna die. C'mon, fellas, I'm awful sorry.... I didn't mean ta do any harm...." With a sorrowful face, he clasped his hands together as he shrunk his kneeling figure as low as it could go. Now his legs and arms were totally wet. His chin was at water's surface, about four inches above the ground. He cringed as he looked up at the chief's face. The stoic expression was beginning to soften a bit. Unfortunately, the weapons were still aimed. Flip could hear the blaring of ambulance sirens as a woman shrieked at the sight of a crumpled man being loaded into the vehicle for treatment. As he watched the chief's face, the stern man's expression turned right back to stoic again, then to an angry gaze. The officer's bayonet quivered slightly as his hand clenched the handle tighter. He turned his head for a moment to glance back at the crowds formed behind him and the other policemen. "You may not want to see this, folks," the chief told them.

Flip knew at that moment that his begging from before would not save him from being killed. He was going to die today, right now. A new thought entered his mind; he would die now, knowing that the last thing he ever did was hurt and maim innocent people. Most certainly he would not enter a happy place afterwards. This thought was too heavy for him to hold inside of him. "OH, PLEASE, DON'T KILL ME!!! I DON'T WANNA DIE!! I DON'T WANT THE LAST THING I EVER DO IN MY LIFE TO BE HURTING PEOPLE!!! PLEASE!! LET ME MAKE UP FOR THE GRIEF AND ANGER I'VE CAUSED!!!! I JUST CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS!!!" His head drooped. "Please.... " He cried openly now, letting the tears flow like flooded streams. "I'm so sorry, sir," he mumbled apologetically to the chief. He looked at the circle of people around him. "I'm sorry, everyone, I really am."

He covered his head with his hands and buried his face in the water, sobbing and heaving all the while. It was the ultimate low point for him, both literally and figuratively. The people in the crowd began murmuring amongst themselves. With ears still above water, Flip overheard a woman say, "He seems sincere." A few others were discussing execution as the wrong choice for him. Many people were pitying him! It was a good sign. He waited for what seemed like hours, still cringing and shivering in the water and allowing hismouth to stay above water,tucked into his chest,so that he could breathe. Try as he could, it was impossible to suffocate himself.

After a minute or so, for what seemed like hours to Flip, the chief made a command. "LOWER YOUR WEAPONS." Flip removed his hands from his head and looked up from his low vantage point to see all the policemen lowering their guns. However, the chief stepped closer towards him. Flip watched him the whole time, curious as to what he was going to do. The chief came right up beside him and Flip could hear the metallic clicking of handcuffs. As Flip knelt there,he put his hands behind his back, for he knew to obey. Flip sighed out of pure relief as the cuffs were clicked onto his wrists. With a tug on his arm from the chief, Flip rose slowly out of the water and began to walk where the man was leading him. The crowd made a wide gap so that Flip and the chief could go through to the waiting paddy wagon.

Meanwhile, Nemo and Camille had made the list. Both smiled childishly at each other as they reviewed the small number of options. "Well, Nemo, we're obviously not very bright. We couldn't even think of anything to fill up a quarter of the page." She giggled at the paper. Nemo chuckled along too. Her laugh was contagious. He loved it. She giggled again. He kept laughing but only because she kept laughing too. Soon he wondered just what she was laughing at.

"What are you laughing at? I know it's not what we were laughing at before."

"Nemo, I'll get you some better clothes. I just realized that you have a pizza stain right down the center of your t-shirt, hehe." She walked into the walk-in closet and pulled out some better-looking clothes. It looked like a military officer's uniform. As she plucked them off of their hangers and handed them to Nemo, the boy looked at her slightly confused.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Why do you have boys' clothes in your room?"

"Oh, hehe, I was very anxious to see you again and anticipated your arrival by having clothes made for you. I hope they fit. I only assumed your... dimensions." She giggled playfully. Nemo laughed along.

"Well, I'll try these on." He got up off the bed, slipped into the bathroom next door, and came out a few moments later, looking great in the clothes.

"You look wonderful, Nemo! That outfit suits you!" They smiled warmly at each other.

Suddenly, the phone next to the bed rang. Camille stopped admiring Nemo to answer the phone. Nemo could only hear her end of the conversation. "Hello.... Oh, that is great! .... Where is it located? .... Nemo and I will be there immediately.... Goodbye."

She put the phone back on the hook as Nemo inquired in her with his expressive brown eyes. Camille knew what he wanted. "That was the police chief. They have apprehended Flip near the northern border of Slumberland. We must go there to decide his fate."

Professor Genius glanced at his pocket watch for the 97th time as he nervously removed his tall, slightly bent top hat, rubbed his bald head, and replaced his hat again.

"Oh, I am so late! I hope Nemo doesn't mind too much." He looked out the window of the helicopter at the vast stretches of Slumberland. A huge crowd forming a circle around a fountain immediately caught his eye. "What happened down there?" he asked a female passenger to his left.

"I heard over the radio that a big arrest was made down there today."

"Oh my goodness, an arrest of who?"

"I'm not sure...."

The Professor hoped to heaven that Nemo wasn't hanging around Flip. If he had been, Flip could blame Nemo for whatever had happened. Besides, Flip was the only one that could've gotten arrested....

Nemo and Camille headed out via antelope-buggy to where Flip had been flying away from the incident. After a few miles of going out of the main square of town, the pair spotted a crowd and knew that this must've been where Flip was apprehended. They then were certain that the place was here when they saw the police chief approaching with the wet, cringing figure of Flip.

"Good evening, Queen Camille."

"Good evening, Mortimus."

The police chief signaled to his prisoner. "What shall be done with him?" Flip cringed at the possible outcomes of this conversation. He bowed his head sorrowfully, not bearing to look up into Nemo's eyes. He was right there next to Camille, quite official-looking in his royal clothing.

"How did this arrest allow all these citizens to gather about?" The Queen inquired.

"He fell out of the sky and many, including the police force, estimated on where he would fall and made a circle around the spot. I prepared the force to shoot him, but decided otherwise." The police chief anticipated the Queen's next words and hoped that they were kind. He sighed quietly as Camille smiled and continued speaking in official tone.

"It is fortunate that he was not executed. I have other plans for him." Flip gulped so loud that even the Queen and Nemo heard it. She continued her instructions. "But, for now, take him to jail."


	3. Turmoil

As Flip was put in the paddy wagon for his trip to jail, the chief of police tossed him in with no restraints other than the handcuffs behind his back. They assumed he was sincere with his begging and supposed he would try to be penitential and accept his punishment. Flip, however, saw the lack of restraints and the open space of the paddy wagon as an escapable containment. Seeing this might mean the end of his freedom for the rest of his life, the tubby man righted himself, slid the handcuffs under his feet to the front of his body and reached for a small smoke bomb in the pocket of his sopping wet jacket. He scooted towards the rear door of his entrapment and began to kick at the lock. Since he was the first prisoner ever to use the vehicle, the wagon had spent many a day outside rusting. Flip noticed this from the very start and realized this might be his last chance of escape. The jail was highly secured and meant for people like him. He sneered slyly as his legs worked hard to break him out.

Eventually his feet broke the lock open and the heavy blue metal doors clanged open. As soon as freedom was evident, Flip set off the smoke bomb, enshrouding the whole vehicle and nearby surroundings in thick black smoke. As the wagon slowed to a stop, he jumped out, scampering over to where he knew there was sufficient cover after the smoke's clearing. The policeman in charge of the paddy wagon tried to breathe as he ran from the thick smoke filling his lungs.

"Now, what could possibly have happened?" he asked himself. He waited until the smoke was a dusty fog before he went over to the wagon again. Luckily for Flip, the policeman was asthmatic and could not stand to be in the pollutant.

Flip sat in the bushes, listening intently to the retreating of the policeman away from the smoke, then he took off in the opposite direction of where the cop's footsteps went. The short man hopped into a thicket of rabbit-shaped shrubs. He was far from the earlier crowd of people and figured the boundaries of Slumberland must be around within his reach.

"OH NO!" the officer yelled as he stared at the open back doors of the vehicle. His name was Cornelius, and he was second-in-command under the chief of police. One of the believers of death for Flip, Cornelius was now terribly distraught over the escape of the master escapist. Thinking quickly, he ran back to the driver's seat of the wagon and grabbed his flashlight. The sky was beginning to darken as night approached. "I have to find that scoundrel, if it's the last thing I ever do!" he cried as he wiped his runny nose with his sleeve. He felt the urge to cry, for it was his wife that was now lying in the hospital because of the person he let escape. "He deserves punishment for what he did…."

Giggling insanely, the clown-like figure under the rabbit shrubs watched Cornelius from a hundred-yard distance. "No one can catch ol' Flip!" he scoffed indignantly and a little too sure of himself. For about ten more minutes, he viewed the poor cop searching all around the wagon, in the bushes, and questioning evening out-and-about citizens. Eventually Cornelius gave up and trudged tearfully back to the empty paddy wagon. The jubilant Flip sighed deeply and sunk back into the soft shrubs, where he fell asleep in the safe haven of the branches.

Professor Genius's helicopter landed at the royal base in the center of the castle complex about a half-hour after the escape, rotors whirring, whipping around nearby trees and shrubs in the courtyard. The lanky Professor dizzily stepped off the flying machine, stumbling towards the main entrance to the castle from the courtyard.

Morpheus, wearing his locomotive engineer outfit as his train chugged across the courtyard, greeted the Professor as he sat merrily on the locomotive.

"Greetings, K- um, Morpheus. How are you enjoying your retirement so far?"

"How do you think I'm doing?" the King laughed jovially. He lovingly patted his train engine below him. "I get to play with my train sets all day and do things that I never had time to do!"

The Professor smiled half-heartedly and immediately a troubled look replaced the smile.

"What's wrong, Professor?"

"Um," the Professor stumbled in his words. "Was there some kind of arrest made earlier around the main fountain?"

The former king stood up before the Professor, a serious grimace on his face. "Yes, it was Flip's arrest. He caught a landing dirigible on fire and it fell on the thousands of people below, hurting and burning many severely. I feel sorry for my daughter having to put up with that pest. Now he's not only a pest, but also a criminal. You would have thought he'd have learned after Nemo left…." Morpheus trailed off, looking thoughtful but not saying anymore.

The Professor spoke up nervously. "I thought Flip was going to change after Nemo told him what to do and what not to do, and his horrible misadventure. For the first few weeks after the boy left, I thought for sure it was true."

"Then he went back to being old Flip," Morpheus muttered.

The phone rang, and Morpheus ran over to pick it up. As soon as the receiver was lifted to the ex-king's ear, Morpheus's brow furrowed with anger and he stomped furiously on the wooden floor of the entrance hallway. "No! You can't be serious!"

"Yes, it's true," the Chief of Police replied sadly.

"Flip has escaped?!? And he's gone now?"

A look of horror crossed the Professor's face as he heard the terrible news.

"…And how did he do this?" the big man asked anxiously.

The disappointing answer from the Chief was too soft to be heard by the Professor.

"Oh my goodness…." Morpheus spoke a bit more with the Chief and then ended the conversation. Once off the phone, the big man spoke with Professor Genius about the horrible escape that would drive his daughter up the wall once she knew.

Queen Camille and Nemo reached the palace about five minutes later and were informed of the shocking escape. Immediately Camille called back the Chief of Police and rehashed the details of the escape once more. She got off the phone furious and vengeful towards the one man who kept screwing up her reign as queen.

Nemo and Camille spent the night in the same room of the royal palace tower but not the same bed. Morpheus had his standards for his daughter, and would not allow the virgin Queen to become deflowered before she was married. He knew very well that Nemo and the Queen loved each other and would be betrothed in due time, but since all the happenings with Flip, the royal marriage would have to wait. All night Nemo and the Queen discussed the harsher punishment that Flip would now have to receive.

"Nemo, does Flip _want_ to die? He seems to have a death wish."

"Well, when I was here before, Flip just thought of the police as a nuisance and nothing more. The police were merely a hindrance to his plans."

"He will be punished severely this time," the Queen stated gruffly. "I can't put up with this anymore."

Nemo patted her on the shoulder. "I agree. Flip is wrong."

"He PROMISED he wouldn't do anything again! PROMISED! And he broke it within, what, ten minutes?"

"I don't know what to say, Camille." He looked down at his hands, nervously twiddling them. He was supposed to be furious with Flip but couldn't feel as strongly about it as the Queen felt about the situation.

"You know what I've been wondering, Nemo?"

Nemo looked up from the twiddling of his hands to give an interested smile.

"What happened to your little ra-squirrel friend?"

"Oh, Icarus…. He died about six years ago. None of the pets I've had since then have been as fun as he was."

Camille expected that kind of answer, since she hadn't spotted the animal peeping out anywhere unexpectedly, and she was sure that if Nemo still had the rodent he would have brought it along.

They both continued the conversation until they collapsed from exhaustion of strong feelings. The flirtations between the two would have to go on pause until Flip was apprehended once more and brought to justice.

Morning came, and with it the shocking news of Flip's escape on the trip to prison spread to all the citizens of Slumberland.

"That Flip fellow makes me sick."

"He just can't accept punishment. Doesn't he EVER feel guilt for anything he's done?"

"What is wrong with him? The next time they catch him he'll be shot and killed on the spot for sure."

"Very true. He should've kept with the luck in the fountain and went along with it. He was almost killed then, but they spared him."

"So much for the penitence he promised."

Flip awoke from his deep slumber, sitting up dizzily as he overheard the citizens of Slumberland talking about him. _Wait! How am I hearing this?! _he thought, alarmed. After having picked the lock of his handcuffs, spreading the branches of his hideout ever so slightly with his newly freed hands, he noticed that his nook lay right in the middle of the central park of Slumberland. Cobblestone paths meandered throughout the shapely bushes and small fishponds, adding to the natural beauty of the land. Most people went on quiet morning strolls when the sun hadn't shown yet with the full fury of daylight. _Now, how am I s'posed to escape off into the darkness when there's light and people all around?_ Flip asked himself, not murmuring a word that could be heard.

The whole police force was out on the rampage the next morning, searching every crevice and cranny that Slumberland contained. They all carried guns, loaded pistols that could be drawn at the very glimpse of the fugitive. As a few of the police force entered the park, Flip could see the glint of their pistols gleaming in the glow of the sun. He became extremely nervous and had to find a route out of the park before the police approached closer to his spot. The force soon began to perform the dreadful check of all the fixtures in the park, including all foliage. Now came the cold sweat and the quickened heartbeat and breathing. If he was found, he was dead. As the police came closer to his clump of bushes, he listened for where the footsteps stomped on the grass and made a plan to run off in the opposite direction of all police sounds.

A megaphone boomed. "IF YOU ARE HIDING IN THE PARK AREA SURRENDER NOW OR BE KILLED."

Flip scoffed quietly. "If I surrender I _will_ be killed for certain."

He then decided to make a split-second attempt at escape towards the gardeners' shed twenty yards away. "One, Two, GO!" he whispered anxiously to himself and took off on the count of three towards the shed. Immediately a banging of gunshot exploded towards him, deafening him as he ran blindly towards his point of temporary shelter from the rain of bullets upon him. Another gunshot sounded, and a red-hot singe in his calf spread all the way up to his chest as the pain of the bullet wound dragged him down. He had his back turned as he retreated, and the shed was closer as another bullet got him in the shoulder blade and he fell onto his stomach. Clutching his throbbing, bloody wounds of terrible pain, Flip knew the end was near. As he lay helpless and hurting, he heard the police clomping towards him and stumbled back up again for one last try at life as another bullet hit him, this time in the backside. He stumbled again and tripped into the shed as soon as three other shots were fired in his direction. One shot went through the top of his hat as he fell for the last time. Flip's world went black as the police force reached his bloody body, ripped up from the shrubs, soot-covered from the smoke bomb, and encrusted with drying black blood. One cop kicked the lifeless being to make sure he was really gone and not tricking again, and two others pointed out where precisely the bullets had hit him. The cops went back towards their ammunition-piled cart to get the body bag, for they did not want the citizens of Slumberland to look upon such a horrible sight as the body of Flip.

While the cops were gone, an old gardener spotted the body and hauled it up onto his wheelbarrow. He was tucking in Flip's broken limbs as the force returned to the shed.

"Sir, what do you suppose you are doing?" the Chief spoke up loudly to the old man.

"Um…. I'm sorry, officer, I thought you were going to leave it here, and I supposed I'd take it off everyone's hands and out of everyone's view to use as fertilizer." The man managed to mumble out demurely. "…For the Queen's royal flower garden a little ways from here…." He pointed off to the gardens, a little more than sixty yards away from the shed. "…It's yours; you can take it. I didn't think that you'd just leave it here…"

The Chief looked confused and slightly sick as he pinched the lifeless body once more to make sure of Flip's passing. Another cop came over to the body and placed a finger upon its neck for any sign of a pulse. There was no pulse whatsoever.

"He is dead. You can have the body, but please be subtle about it. If any of our civilians knew that you use dead bodies to fertilize beautiful flowers, the flowers would no longer be beautiful to anyone."

The old man nodded carefully and began to push the fat man in the wheelbarrow towards his destination.

"Do you need some help?" the Chief inquired.

"No," the old man mumbled. "I'll be okay."

"Another thing, Sir, we must put that in a body bag so no one will see you pushing that thing around." He pointed at the bloody corpse, and grabbed the body bag in the other hand.

"NO!" the old man asserted loudly. The police were all stunned and gave questioning looks. Immediately the man felt embarrassed at his outburst. "If you put it in a body bag, then the body will become damp with condensation and I… won't be able to make full use of it for the garden."

The police nodded and hastily left, unsure of how to feel about the death of Flip.

Seeing that the police were gone, the old man quickened his pace until he was running with the wheelbarrow in front of him back to his home a bit further away than the flower gardens. Once he reached the house, he pushed the wheelbarrow inside and shut the door. He pushed the wheelbarrow next to a bed and draped the body across it. Working quickly, the old man brought the wheelbarrow back outside and rushed back to the bed with a mystery concoction he had made with his own plants. He checked once more for the pulse, and seeing there was none, took a filled spoon out of the bowl and pried open the mouth to receive the concoction. After pouring it down Flip's throat, he waited for a few seconds, and with no response, tried once more. Soon, the whole bowl was gone and he stomped angrily on the ground. The floor shook and a table lamp fell onto the bed, causing sparks from a short circuit in the wiring. The body, with which soon would advance to the stages of rigor mortis, instead trembled with the electrocution that had taken place on it.

"Oh, my…" the gardener silently prayed. His name was Fernicus and he was a deeply spiritual man who hoped that somehow his concoction could bring the dead man back to life. Gardening was his second passion, and he loved to find secret uses for the many different types of weeds and domesticated plants he came upon in his lifetime. Fernicus had been deeply shattered by the passing away of his wife and could not find a single way to revive her, but was still determined to discover the way. The plant he had found, a rare purplish fern he knew as Plumweed, held many uses in restoring oxygen in dead tissue and, mixed with other plants and substances, could be used to restore respiration and thus restore life in organisms.

As the lamp's sparking came to a halt, Fernicus unplugged and removed the fixture from the wall and the bed and again checked for a pulse in the short man on the bed. At first he felt none, but then the second time he checked a faint beating could barely be observed, but nonetheless detected, in Flip's neck.

Excitedly, he pulled the faintly breathing man up to a half-sit and let him swallow a little bit more of the concoction he so cleverly designed. Eventually, the breathing and pulse was normal enough to be detected easily as a sign of life. He carefully removed Flip's overcoat and hat, and then took off the other clothes to find the bullet wounds. The first one he found in Flip's leg, and it was a bluish bloody mess. Fernicus stood up and rushed over to the kitchen sink to fill a bucket up with clean water and soap to clean the wound for a minor surgery to remove the bullet. As he returned, however, he realized the bullet was no longer in Flip's leg; it had traveled all the way through, and shattered the bone along the way. After cleaning the wound out and setting the bone, the old man proceeded to search for more of the bullet wounds, for he was certain that the bullet wound in the leg did not kill this man. He could not find a bullet hole on the front of Flip, so he would need to turn him over to look on the back. Flip was unconscious but breathing, and as he turned the man over, keeping his face in the open air and not buried in the pillow. Fernicus easily saw both wounds and attended to the shoulder wound first, the wound that most likely did him in. It was a nasty sight, and the blade was shattered from the power of the gunshot. The bullet was somewhere lodged in the chunks of bone and he had to find it. He cleaned out the wound on Flip's backside briefly and then covered the unclothed body with a blanket as he worked with the shoulder. Within a half-hour of the careful surgery, the bullet was found and removed and bandages were wrapped around the broken area.

Next came work on the backside wound. The bullet was removed and bandaged, then Fernicus turned Flip back over to make breathing easier. Luckily for him the mystery man he had saved was unconscious during the surgeries, but if he hadn't been Fernicus would have anesthetized him with his wide variety of sedative plants and herbs.

Nemo and Camille received the information of the death of Flip as soon as the police reached the station. They were eating a quiet lunch when the phone rang and the Queen went to answer it. Her happy hopeful replies to whatever was said on the phone interested Nemo and he wondered if they had caught Flip again and put him in prison. He didn't want Flip to be killed by the police and crossed his fingers for just some capture. However, as the Queen hung up the phone, she skipped over to him and gave him a hug and a quick peck on the lips.

"Guess what, Nemo?" she giggled in a childlike voice.

"Did they catch Flip?" Nemo answered, frightened at what she would say.

"Well… I guess you could call it that. He's gone forever."

Instead of Nemo responding the way she thought he would, the boy looked away and avoided her questioning gaze.

"What's wrong, Nemo?"

Nemo pulled away from the hug slightly as he looked down at the ground.

"How did they… uh, do it?"

Camille twisted his face gently back so he could look her in the eye. It bothered her that he wasn't making any eye contact.

"Um… They found him sleeping in a bush in the center park. Apparently the smoke messed him up too with direction. He must've thought he was further away from the kingdom than he actually happened to be. Well, this morning he tried to run out from the bush before they got there to check it, and they brought him down."

"With a gun?"

The Queen nodded. "They said they shot him three times for sure, and one time they aren't completely certain about."

"Why wouldn't they be certain? Don't they have his body?"

Nemo looked at Camille. "I'll call and ask them, Camille," he volunteered. He dialed the number for the station and waited for it to ring. The phone rang a couple times then the Chief of Police answered.

"Hello. Slumberland Police Station speaking. May I help you?"

"Yes. This is Nemo. I was wondering about the, um…." He began to stutter. "About the…. Well, you know…."

"The what?"

"The death of Flip!" Nemo stammered out. "How many times was he, uh… shot?"

"Well, we know three for certain."

"Can you check for me?"

There was a pause on the other end. "Nemo, can you keep a secret?"

Nemo stammered, a bit of hope in his voice.

"Yes…." He was now intrigued. Perhaps the police didn't kill him after all.

"Well, we killed him… But some gardener wanted his body as fertilizer or something along that line so we gave the body to the gardener."

"So…." Nemo was disheartened. "He's dead then."

"Oh, yes, Sir. Not one sign of life when we gave the body away. …Nemo, you must please promise not to tell the Queen about the gardener using Flip as fertilizer. He is supposedly going to use it in her flower garden, and if she knew a corpse was feeding her flowers, she wouldn't like that at all."

"Alright…. I promise…." Nemo murmured, feeling nauseated. "Thank you, bye." He hung up the phone, sick to his stomach.

Camille ran over, hugging Nemo around the waist. "What did they say, Nemo?"

The boy looked into her hopeful eyes and murmured softly, for it was going to be hard for him to lie to his beloved. "Yes… They have his body. They shot him only three times."

"Well, those three times got him. No need wasting another bullet on that man." She squeezed Nemo tightly and was surprised to have him remove her arms from around his waist and stagger off towards the main hallway of the castle.

"Where are you going, Nemo?" the girl questioned.

"I need… to go to the bathroom…." Nemo said, half-sobbing.

Once Nemo was inside the bathroom, he let the tears flow. Flip had been his friend eight years ago, and now all that was ended without a goodbye. He had been a fun guy to hang around, and although he had his problems, was generally a good person. Nemo pondered the reasons why Flip would have wanted to escape after such a close call minutes before where he had to plead for his life. "Maybe he felt it was his last chance for freedom. Maybe he thought that we had horrible punishment waiting for him once he was in jail." Nemo spoke over and over again in a meek, tear-strained voice. "That man never purposely wanted to harm another human being. And now he's dead."

Nemo sat down on the cold stone floor of the bathroom and put his head on his knees. "He could have had such a good future…. And now there is no chance of a future for him," he said shakily to himself.

Suddenly, he heard a noise outside the locked door. "Nemo, are you alright in there?" It was Professor Genius's meek voice. He hadn't seen the Professor in several years. The Professor had indeed arrived yesterday, but had disappeared into private conversation with the ex-king before he and Camille had came back from the fountain arrest. He wiped off his watery eyes and stood up, preparing to meet his old mentor.

As the door opened, Nemo gave a big, appreciative hug to Professor Genius and then glanced at Camille, who was staring at him inquisitively. Professor Cloud also emerged from a room down the hall and gave his uncle a handshake, Professor Cloud being about 55 to his uncle's 70-something . After the brief greeting between the relatives, the Professor smiled at Nemo proudly, tears in his eyes. "My, you've grown, Nemo, my boy. I'm so proud. You've turned out wonderfully, Nemo."

"Thank you, Professor. You're looking good yourself. What have you been up to?"

"Well, um…" the Professor stammered shyly. "I helped with the invention of the helicopter I flew in. I also helped with the new telephone industry. We really needed better communication in Slumberland." He straightened his tall crooked top hat as if he expected Nemo to explain about his life happenings.

"That's really great, Professor," Nemo replied to the Professor.

"Nemo, what have you been doing these past eight years? We've really missed you in Slumberland. By the way, where's your squirrel friend?"

"Well… Icarus passed away about six years ago." Everyone immediately looked down sadly until Nemo broke the stillness of their grief. "He was a good squirrel. I never had another after him… As for what I've been up to, I've been attending school and playing sports, which is about it."

"I'm so very happy that you've come back to Slumberland, Nemo. And so are all the citizens. We've all missed you terribly."

"Thanks." Nemo could feel his face flushing, but immediately losing the warmth of blush when he thought of Flip. _The only reason he's dead is because I came back._ He decided he had to get away from the group and have some time alone.

"Well, everyone, I'm sure that I'll talk to you later. I better get back to… to planning on my future in Slumberland." He began to walk away, but the Queen grabbed his arm when he was beyond hearing distancefrom the others.

"What's wrong, Nemo? Ever since Flip's death was mentioned, you've looked a wreck. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"No, Camille, I just need to think for awhile. It's all my fault he's dead, and I am finding that hard to accept."

Camille turned Nemo to face her. "Nemo, it is NOT your fault. Flip would have been fine to comply with orders, and proceed to prison. Instead, he chose to escape. Please don't fret over this."

Back at the gardener's house, Flip was beginning to flutter his eyelids. The miraculous concoction had brought him back from the dead and into consciousness very rapidly. Along with helicopters and telephones, this miracle drug was another one of Slumberland's advancements over the world in which Nemo lived.


End file.
